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Communication and Productivity

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Green and blue abstract cubes

April 28, 2025

Using Excel in Business Central
If your organization has implemented Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, you’re already aware of what a powerful tool it is for managing operations, finance, and customer data—all in one place. But with any ERP system, importing and exporting data efficiently can really impact your workflow.
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9 reasons to join the Microsoft app ecosystem in 2025

February 20, 2025

9 reasons to join the Microsoft app ecosystem in 2025 Read More
4 brown sticky notes

February 02, 2025

Tips & Tricks for navigating Business Central
It is true that Business Central’s extensive features might seem overwhelming at first; luckily, the system is equipped with a user-friendly interface that is optimized and adjustable to your unique job role needs. Whether you’re just beginning to familiarize yourself with Microsoft’s Business Central or you’re a long-time user in search of a refresher, we are here to provide you with some assistance to help you effectively navigate the system. Let’s explore some helpful tips and tricks that ...
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Create quality hybrid workplaces with Microsoft 365 and Teams

March 23, 2022

Create quality hybrid workplaces with Microsoft 365 and Teams
Companies and employees are discovering that remote work is not just possible—it may even be preferable. A whopping 52% of people say they are considering shifting to hybrid or remote work this year, and remote and hybrid jobs are the most popular among applicants—they garner 2.6 times more views and 3 times more applications than on-site positions.Clearly, hybrid work is here to stay. Anticipating this change early on, many updates to Microsoft 365, including in Teams, have been geared towar...
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The power of Teams integrations in Dynamics 365 apps

February 11, 2022

The power of Teams integrations in Dynamics 365 apps
Acquainting yourself with all the apps and technology required to perform your job responsibilities is a hefty task, let alone using your tech stack with peak efficiency. That’s why it’s so beneficial when applications work together to help you do your job. Enter Dynamics 365 and Microsoft 365 applications. Built to seamlessly and natively integrate with each other, these business and productivity apps make it easier to transition from one to the other throughout your workday—sometimes withou...
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How to make Microsoft Teams open Office files in app by default

October 06, 2021

How to make Microsoft Teams open Office files in app by default
Microsoft Teams provides businesses with an excellent solution for managing file storage and collaboration. It has its own editor for Word and other Microsoft 365 app files that can be useful for some quick, small changes. However, for larger edits and authoring, it is usually much easier to open the file in the corresponding desktop application such as Word. The functionality is usually better and the formatting can be a bit difficult when editing in Teams itself. New in the preview release ...
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How to integrate Business Central and an Outlook account

September 22, 2021

How to integrate Business Central and an Outlook account
Integrating an email account to Business Central using an Outlook add-in can help users better keep track of which documents are sent to which contacts. Here’s how you can integrate Business Central with Outlook, plus a few of the scenarios where you’d want to use this helpful feature.
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Six ways to improve business process efficiency with Power Automate

September 02, 2021

Six ways to improve business process efficiency with Power Automate
How many workdays have been filled completing manual, repetitive, time-consuming business processes, like sending reminders, scheduling meetings, or completing the steps of an approval? These tasks are necessary, but they often require time and energy that employees could otherwise spend on driving the business forward. With advancements in technology and the power of automation, these processes can be done—often from start to finish—automatically, freeing up time in your day for all the othe...
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Collaboration on the go with Microsoft Teams mobile app

July 30, 2021

Collaboration on the go with Microsoft Teams mobile app
Businesses and employees have needed to embrace a “new normal” workplace reality, and it’s crucial that remote, asynchronous, and hybrid work options can keep up with expectations. One thing has been clear – innovation and growth mindsets are key factors in successfully getting things done together, even while working apart.Microsoft Teams provides an all-in-one collaboration solution for environments returning in-person, embracing remote work, and everything in between. The best features of ...
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Microsoft 365: Tools for accessibility and inclusion

July 21, 2021

Microsoft 365: Tools for accessibility and inclusion
Accessibility should be the standard, not the exception. Fortunately, that is the direction culture is shifting. Microsoft 365 products are designed with accessible and inclusive features that work with any individual to better create, interact with, understand, and retain content. Documents, presentations, meetings, and emails can be better—more accessible, inclusive, easier to create, intuitive, interactive, successful. Here are seven accessibility and inclusivity tools and the Microsoft 36...
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Optimize hybrid work with new work plans, enhanced employee engagement, and Microsoft 365

June 04, 2021

Optimize hybrid work with new work plans, enhanced employee engagement, and Microsoft 365
After the forced pivot to remote work due to the pandemic, companies have learned an important lesson: working from home can be effective and productive. Though the quick and easy option for a “return to work” plan might be reverting to business-as-usual pre-pandemic, innovative and growth-minded companies will want to embrace those lessons brought about by remote work. This means establishing hybrid workplace policies, which 80% of managers expect to implement and 70% of employees plan to use.
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Design effective SharePoint sites with the help of new site templates

May 13, 2021

Design effective SharePoint sites with the help of new site templates
Designing a SharePoint site requires knowledge of how SharePoint site structures work and a deep understanding of how you want SharePoint users to navigate and interact with the site. With new SharePoint site templates, Microsoft provides teams with a starting point to develop a customized site that fits the exact needs of your team. In this blog we’ll cover what a SharePoint site is and how to get started with site templates.
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How to keep Microsoft Word documents white in dark mode

May 07, 2021

How to keep Microsoft Word documents white in dark mode
Many users prefer to use “Dark Mode” in their Office applications as it reduces the amount of bright white light on screen that can get quite uncomfortable after a while. Luckily, Microsoft Office has themes that can be used to change the color appearance of Office applications like Word and Outlook to be, for example, black. In the past, the black Office theme has kept Word documents white while turning most of the user interface to the darker color. However, it seems that Word has recently ...
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Skype for Business is retiring on July 31st 2021 - What to expect

May 04, 2021

Skype for Business is retiring on July 31st 2021 - What to expect
Over two years ago, Microsoft announced that Skype for Business Online would be retired on July 31, 2021. Now that we are a mere three months from that date, Microsoft is providing more details and information for moving existing Skype for Business customers to Microsoft Teams. It’s important to note that the retirement of Skype for Business Online does not affect the Skype consumer service or Skype for Business Server. These services will continue to operate as normal.
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Webinar in Microsoft Teams: Breaking down Teams live events capabilities

April 30, 2021

Webinar in Microsoft Teams: Breaking down Teams live events capabilities
For the people familiar with Microsoft Teams, it is known largely as collaboration tool for businesses to quickly communicate via text and audio/video calling along with group file management and editing capabilities. However, Teams can also be utilized to host live events. Live events like webinars are a great way to engage with audiences in an online setting. These are events where the communication is largely conducted as one or more individuals presenting to a large group that viewing the...
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Carve out break time with time management settings in Outlook

April 27, 2021

Carve out break time with time management settings in Outlook
Time is the most valuable resource for any employee. For employees who have been working from home for the past year, managing time to ensure work gets done and personal life doesn’t take a hit can be sometimes difficult. The goal of Microsoft 365 apps like Outlook and Microsoft Teams is to help manage time and ensure communication is efficient. Specifically in Outlook, the calendar can be used to effectively manage meetings and work life balance in a user-friendly way. Here are some new feat...
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Enrich communication with Microsoft 365 integration in Microsoft Teams

March 30, 2021

Enrich communication with Microsoft 365 integration in Microsoft Teams
With many organizations still operating in a work from home environment, digital communication is integral to maintaining on the same page. In a recent update to Microsoft 365, there are new ways for team members to interact and improve that sense of comradery that is often missed is a digital setting. Let’s walk through three ways Microsoft 365 apps are now integrated into Microsoft Teams to help employees stay connected.
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Increase communication efforts with new Teams integration to Dynamics 365

March 19, 2021

Increase communication efforts with new Teams integration to Dynamics 365
Microsoft Teams stands tall not only as an effective method for businesses to facilitate internal communications, but also as a way for them to collaborate on their work. Teams allows for seamless collaboration in a variety of applications, especially with other Microsoft applications such as Word, PowerPoint, Excel and SharePoint. Teams has an integration to work with Dynamics 365 applications such as Dynamics 365 Sales and Dynamics 365 Marketing. This integration is receiving some new featu...
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Organize your Teams by creating well-structured SharePoint Team sites in Microsoft Teams

February 02, 2021

Organize your Teams by creating well-structured SharePoint Team sites in Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Teams is a great tool for facilitating internal communications and ensuring every member of the organization stays up to date. It keeps teams focused and advancing towards the same goals. SharePoint is a file management system that gives secure file storage to the entire organization. SharePoint can be customized and structured to best fit the needs of the business. These are both great products that help facilitate effective collaboration within an organization.
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Microsoft Teams update roundup: The best new collaboration features

January 13, 2021

Microsoft Teams update roundup: The best new collaboration features
If your organization already uses Microsoft Teams for internal or external communication, you’ll be happy to know that Microsoft continues to release monthly updates for the application that greatly advance the collaboration capabilities. If you haven’t used Teams before, it is included in most Microsoft 365 packages and integrates with the Office storage applications like SharePoint and traditional Office applications like Word and Excel. We’ve put together a list of the latest updates to Mi...
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Microsoft Teams no longer supports Internet Explorer 11

December 04, 2020

Microsoft Teams no longer supports Internet Explorer 11
Back in August, Microsoft announced the official end of support for Internet Explorer coming in late 2021. This announcement also included a slew of end-of-support dates for Microsoft 365 application support of Internet Explorer. As of November 30, 2020, Microsoft Teams no longer supports Internet Explorer 11.
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UPDATE: Set OneDrive to open Office 365 files in their desktop app by default

November 25, 2020

UPDATE: Set OneDrive to open Office 365 files in their desktop app by default
This is an update to a previous blog detailing the default opening behavior of Office 365 app files in OneDrive. The process has largely changed since the original blog post. The purpose of this blog is to show how to set OneDrive up to automatically open Office 365 files in the desktop app, rather than the online app.
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Improve team organization and productivity with Microsoft Lists and Microsoft Teams

October 14, 2020

Improve team organization and productivity with Microsoft Lists and Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Lists, a recently released Microsoft 365 productivity application, has proven to be a catalyst to help companies organize and track tasks. On its own, Microsoft Lists allows users to create and share lists with members of their organization to view, edit, and complete within the app - even on mobile. However, where it really shines is in its integration with Microsoft Teams.
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New Microsoft Teams features built to improve remote collaboration

August 19, 2020

New Microsoft Teams features built to improve remote collaboration
Since Microsoft originally released Microsoft Teams as a successor to Skype for Business, they have been consistently improving the application with regular updates designed to make communication and collaboration easier for organizations of all sizes. With the recent situation surrounding COVID-19, many organizations have begun to rely more heavily on Microsoft Teams to help their staff communicate and collaborate while working remotely. We’ve put together a few of the most beneficial featur...
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SharePoint Online is fixing a long existing required metadate sync issue

July 17, 2020

SharePoint Online is fixing a long existing required metadate sync issue
The main way SharePoint manages their documents is through document libraries which keeps documents organized through the column system. As part of their annual August update, SharePoint Online will be bring some changes to this column system which may clear up some headaches that have always been associated with the feature.
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Share Microsoft Teams meeting recordings with external users

July 06, 2020

Share Microsoft Teams meeting recordings with external users
Microsoft Teams gives users the ability to record their meetings. Recording meetings can be useful for training sessions or webinars that you want to reuse in the future. When a meeting is recorded in Microsoft Teams, it is automatically uploaded to Microsoft Stream, the default video player application in Microsoft 365. It is very easy to share videos uploaded to Microsoft Stream with members of your organization, but there is currently no way to share videos in Microsoft Stream with externa...
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Customizing form themes in Microsoft Forms

July 02, 2020

Customizing form themes in Microsoft Forms
Microsoft Forms provides multiples ways to customize forms in a way that make them your own or adhere to brand standards. Updating a form theme or background with custom images or colors will help legitimize the form for your audience and make it look more appealing.
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How retailers can use Microsoft Bookings to follow social distancing guidelines

May 06, 2020

How retailers can use Microsoft Bookings to follow social distancing guidelines
Smaller retailers like hair salons, auto repair shops, boutiques, and other small to midsize retailers who don’t have dedicated teams to implement advanced COVID-19 response operations can utilize appointment booking software like Microsoft Bookings to safely open their business to their customers.
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Encourage team communication and collaboration with Microsoft Teams

April 13, 2020

Encourage team communication and collaboration with Microsoft Teams
Within Microsoft Teams, Teams are the highest level of organizations for groups of users. Teams can be used to communicate with groups of people, store relevant group files, or even just post notifications. Typically we see Teams be created for departments, project teams, specific office location staff, or group interests, but Teams can be created for just about any group type.
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Working Remotely During COVID-19

April 09, 2020

Working Remotely During COVID-19
With the outbreak of COVID-19 (Coronavirus) and its subsequent spread around the world, many companies and employees are taking the responsible step to have employees work from home to combat further spread of the virus, a concept known as social distancing. Companies of all sizes may struggle to adequately prepare staff to work remotely full-time. They may not have the equipment or the tools to access work resources remotely.
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Working remotely during COVID-19

March 26, 2020

Working remotely during COVID-19
With the outbreak of COVID-19 (Coronavirus) and its subsequent spread around the world, many companies and employees are taking the responsible step to have employees work from home to combat further spread of the virus, a concept known as social distancing. Companies of all sizes may struggle to adequately prepare staff to work remotely full-time. They may not have the equipment or the tools to access work resources remotely.
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Microsoft offering 6 months of free Microsoft Teams licensing in response to COVID-19 outbreak

March 25, 2020

Microsoft offering 6 months of free Microsoft Teams licensing in response to COVID-19 outbreak
On March 2nd, Microsoft announced they would be providing 6 free months of Microsoft Teams licensing in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. If your organization has implemented or is considering a work from home policy, Microsoft Teams can give your users an organized way to communicate and stay productive while out of the office.
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How Office 365 Enables Employees to Work from Home

March 25, 2020

How Office 365 Enables Employees to Work from Home
Regardless of where staff work, they need to communicate and collaborate to complete tasks and projects. You may worry that the distance will cause interruption in business processes. Office 365 provides organizations a way to strengthen their team communication and collaboration while also giving employees flexibility during these uncertain times.
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How often do Office 365 applications get updates?

October 20, 2019

How often do Office 365 applications get updates?
Does it seem like your Microsoft Office apps are updating all the time, or are updates only available every few months? Read this blog to learn about Office update channels, how they differ, and why you may want to choose each specific one.
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How to make Office files open in the desktop app by default

August 06, 2019

How to make Office files open in the desktop app by default
Take control of your Office files and documents by establishing a permanent opening location. Whether you prefer the desktop or web, the choice is now yours. Learn how its done and how to make the option available to your users.
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What can you do with Microsoft Search in Office 365?

May 16, 2019

What can you do with Microsoft Search in Office 365?
Microsoft Search is a new, unified search experience that works across Windows 10, Office 365 apps, and the Bing search engine. Announced in September 2018, it reached General Availability in May 2019 for all users of Office and Microsoft 365.
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How Microsoft Teams and Skype for Business are coexisting

April 17, 2019

How Microsoft Teams and Skype for Business are coexisting
With two apps that seem to serve the same purpose, it’s hard for organizations to determine what they should do. Get a full explanation of how Microsoft Teams and Skype for Business are coexisting today, Microsoft’s plans for the future, and how you can use the apps together.
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How to disable autosave in Office 365 programs

October 10, 2018

How to disable autosave in Office 365 programs
In a recent update to Office 365, Microsoft has included an autosave feature that is turned on by default. While this feature can be useful, there may be a time when you want to make changes to a file without saving yet. Here’s how to turn it off.
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OneDrive is opening my documents in the online version of Office. How can I make them open in my desktop applications?

August 20, 2018

OneDrive is opening my documents in the online version of Office. How can I make them open in my desktop applications?
OneDrive from Microsoft allows both business and personal users to save their files in the cloud and access them anytime, from anywhere. In this blog we will discuss the issue of OneDrive only opening documents in the online version of their app. While this action may seem like an error to users, it’s actually the default behavior of OneDrive to open files in the online version. The good news is that changing this behavior is rather easy and takes only a few quick clicks.
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Microsoft Teams comes to Office 365

February 12, 2017

Microsoft Teams comes to Office 365
Chat programs are often built to be simplistic and serve a single purpose – to increase collaboration through instant communication among team members. Microsoft Teams takes that purpose and expands on it with exciting new features built specifically for project teams or departments within a business. This isn’t just chat, this isn’t email, it’s a combination of the two meant to improve organization and collaboration of teams. The video below is a nice introduction of Microsoft Teams for thos...
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SharePoint Online is opening my documents in the online version of Office. How can I make them open in my desktop applications?

January 11, 2017

SharePoint Online is opening my documents in the online version of Office. How can I make them open in my desktop applications?
If you’ve recently implemented SharePoint Online as part of Office 365, you may be feeling a bit baffled as to why every time you try to open a document from SharePoint, it opens in Word or Excel Online, rather than directly on your desktop. This is actually the default behavior for SharePoint documents.
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OneDrive and SharePoint: What's the difference?

August 04, 2016

OneDrive and SharePoint: What's the difference?
OneDrive and SharePoint are document storage and management services which provide a secure place to house and interact with your documents. Although both accomplish very similar things, they are useful under different circumstances. OneDrive provides a safe space for personal documents wile SharePoint helps manage organizational documents.
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You Got Spam: How Not to Fall for a Phishing Attack

July 01, 2016

You Got Spam: How Not to Fall for a Phishing Attack
Phishing is on the rise again and now more than ever it's critical to defend yourself against intrusions that can compromise your business. Just this year the Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center was targeted by ransomware injected into their system through a phishing attack. In the end, they ended up shelling out a whopping $17,000 to re-appropriate all of their client’s medical documents.
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Upgrade to Windows 10 for free now - or pay the price later

June 06, 2016

Upgrade to Windows 10 for free now - or pay the price later
If you’ve been thinking about upgrading to Windows 10, now is the time. Microsoft has confirmed its commitment to the July 29, 2016 cutoff date for offering a Windows 10 upgrade for free to Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1 users.
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May 20, 2016

Office 365 just changed the way you set up App Passwords
If you use Office 365, you may have noticed that Microsoft recently changed the settings layout within the Office 365 Portal. This means that there is a new path for creating and updating app passwords. If you aren’t sure what app passwords are, your organization probably isn’t using them. App passwords are used for Mutli-Factor Authentication within Office 365 to add a second level of security to your Office 365 files.
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February 15, 2016

Microsoft ends support for Internet Explorer 8, 9, and 10
Last month Microsoft ended support for Internet Explorer 8, 9, and 10. This means those versions of IE will no longer get security patches and technical support. It is critical that you get security updates to ensure your system doesn't get compromised by malware, spyware, adware, or any other malicious code. In addition, you'll want to be on an updated version of IE to ensure any web pages you visit will work properly.
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December 15, 2015

Customize your app launcher in Office 365
Microsoft has quietly rolled out a cool new feature for Office 365 Business that gives you the power to move and re size your apps within the Office 365 app launcher. This is an exciting feature for people that use the app launcher to switch between Office 365 apps and for those who don’t use the app launcher, this will be a fun way to get into a habit of using it more.
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